in 1821, a european diplomat told congress it was neither a large nor awe-inspiring. he said the building served its purpose. if it was more elegant, perhaps some president would be inclined to be its permanent resident. >> a photo credit has gathered a few of her favorite white house photos. you can watch sunday evening on 7:30 p.m. eastern on c-span3. >> my inspiration was the idea that wanted to explain how it happened. istook taylor we know the main events from our point of view. what wanted to do was show from a different angle, from the ground up what it felt like to be one of the people who were subjected to this system and how did people make choices int hat system. one of the things that has happened is the region that we used to call eastern europe has become very differentiated. these countries no longer have much in common with one another. >> more with a pulitzer prize winner on life in soviet east germany, poland, and hungary. from her historical narrative, send a night at 8:00 on c-span. >> "washington journal" continues. host: for the rest of the progr